Hello folks, time for another episode of the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! As you know we managed to stay unbeaten in September but we only managed to secure two wins and three draws. We were still sitting second in the League Two table though, far above the expectations. The team was looking pretty good so I was hoping for a good run in October too, let’s see what happened.
We started the month with a tough away game at 9th placed Crewe, a team with very good strikers at this level. They made that count immediately as Calvin Zola fired in a splendid 20 yarder just six minutes into the match, a nice goal to watch for the home crowd. My lads were not put off by that and four minutes later striker Kazmierowski rounded off a flowing team move with a poacher’s effort from close range. We continued to play well and missed a couple of good chances by half time. Our domination was still there after the break but we lost some of the bite that we showed upfront during the first half. I sent in Marius Dabu to replace Kazmierowski who was pretty tired and the Romanian substitute didn’t let me down, he blazed in a powerful shot from the edge of the area to nick the win for us. Crewe attempted a desperate push for the equalizer but we could easily have settled the game on counter attacks. Anyway, it was a good win that added some more confidence to the squad.
We had a quick break from the league then, the next game was the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy match against fellow League Two side Crystal Palace. They were sitting third in the league, just behind us, so everybody was expecting a tough game. We had a terrible start again, a counter attack move surprised my defense and we were 1-0 down after only three minutes. The team was pretty strong mentally though and reacted well. We were pushing forward and Kazmierowski netted the equalizer right after missing a huge chance a few minutes earlier. It was all square at the break but before we knew it we were one goal down again. Crystal Palace took the lead 30 seconds into the second half, it was a pretty solid team move that misplaced my defense. We resumed our chase for the equalizer, we were dominating the game and I was quite sure that we would draw level. That happened 10 minutes from time thanks to Omar Koroma, he made a superb run and fired in a powerful shot from the edge of the area. Two minutes later Marius Dabu came off the bench again and scored another important goal, a superb pass from playmaker Juanje set him clear of the defense and he didn’t miss. We found ourselves under heavy pressure during the last minutes of the game but the team defended well to go through to the next round.
Back to the league then, the next game was at home against 18th placed Torquay. I admit that I was expecting a quiet game, there’s no way I could have predicted what was going to happen in the craziest game of the season so far. We got off to a flying start as winger Mladenov gave us the lead only two minutes into the game, it all seemed to go the right way. The team kept on pouring forward and we missed another two huge chances in the following minutes. We lived to regret that as Torquay managed to squeeze in the equalizer by capitalizing on a huge error from my defense. Things got back on track in the 17th minute when Omar Koroma fired in another one of his beautiful shots from the edge of the area, it went straight into the top corner. We couldn’t hang on to that lead though, my defense acted up again a few minutes later when they played the offside trap totally wrong and gifted Torquay a goal. As some people say, don’t be sad when things go bad, they can always go worse! Four minutes before the break Torquay took the lead thanks to a total fluke, the ball bounced around our box and eventually hit the goalkeeper in the back and rolled into the net. I checked the stats at half time and I was in disbelief, we missed five clear cut chances and we were 3-2 down! The dismal defending continued after the break, Torquay had quite a few chances to score end eventually did that 10 minutes into the second half. My team continued to push forward but apparently the players were lacking confidence, loads of shots went disappointingly wide. We did manage to claw one back but that couldn’t cheer anybody up, we recorded our first home defeat of the season in quite a shameful manner. I can’t really explain what happened, the same players in defense had no trouble in using the offside trap a few days earlier, now they seemed to be playing like total strangers!
I moved that game into the «X Files» and prepared for the next, away at 23rd placed Morecambe. We got off to a slow start, the team seemed to be still suffering from the Torquay shock. Omar Koroma took care of things though, he gave us the lead with a powerful shot. The game was fairly quiet until the last 10 minutes when Morecambe started to come forward with more determination. Midfielder Simon Ferry settled the game with a placed finish, it was his first ever goal for the club. The team didn’t produce a great display but I guess the win was more important than anything else. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Cal
26 июля, 2010 at 20:35
All in all a good month your doing really well in legue 2.
Hope you get promoted!!!!
Good luck!
Johnny Karp
26 июля, 2010 at 20:52
Thanks Cal! :)
Kevin Mayo
26 июля, 2010 at 21:09
Hi Johnny
Great month for you there though an unlucky loss against Torquay in a hard fought game. Koroma looks like he’s going to do a decent job for you and the team is well tucked in there amongst the leaders. Safe trip to China and back of course!
Johnny Karp
26 июля, 2010 at 21:19
Thanks Kevin, I’ll try to scout some players over there in my spare time, maybe on Chinese TV :)
Sears
26 июля, 2010 at 21:28
Hi Johnny, you sure do travel a lot in that job of yours! Have a safe trip! Great month again with Dorchester, I’m sure you’ll get promoted now.
Darren Smith
26 июля, 2010 at 21:57
Well done Johnny! Thats another fantastic month…hey I wish their was a football manager bookies, because I’d be cashing in. I had a sneaky feeling your side had the quality for at least top 6. I hope you can continue the great form and provide us with some more high scoring games ; )
Laxeyman
26 июля, 2010 at 23:49
Well done Johnny, another fantastic month, and some high scoring games too! The play offs is a very realistic possibility, I think you’ve got a decent chance of even winning it. Have a good trip, it’s a pretty long one!
Johnny Karp
27 июля, 2010 at 06:17
@Sears
Thanks mate, I guess I do travel more than the average working man :)
@Darren
Thanks, maybe they’ll have bets on Football Manager games soon :)
@Laxeyman
Thanks, I hope we’ll manage to win those high scoring games from now on though. Or at least I hope we won’t concede four goals in a game anytime soon.
markjulian
27 июля, 2010 at 10:40
Hello, looks like you’re doing quite well there. I’m a bit shocked to see Crystal Palace in League Two but they have gone down a bit in recent times.
By the way, I was just interested in getting more followers for my recent blog. I am playing as Aston Villa.
The address is http://footballmanagervilla.blogspot.com/
Anyone on the website who is interested please have a look, i am in the process of putting the first post up so it maybe a day or two.
Thanks
Mark
Johnny Karp
27 июля, 2010 at 10:46
Thanks Mark, good luck with your blog.
Ana Garcia
27 июля, 2010 at 11:30
Nice going again Johnny, promotion is a real target now!
Good luck with the rest of the season, and of course have a nice and safe trip to China.
Johnny Karp
27 июля, 2010 at 11:52
Thanks a lot Ana, I hope I’ll still remember the players when I’ll get back :)
Chris @ Chester
27 июля, 2010 at 19:58
Excellent month there johnny. What is it that you do for a living?
Lye
28 июля, 2010 at 01:46
Hi mate, i am highly hopeful that you will win promotion even though its still early. Your team has produced amazing form. By the way, which part of china will you be going?
java
28 июля, 2010 at 17:06
Dorchester are in their way to the promotion Johnny. Ehh… China? what will you do there sir? Learning Kung-Fu? :D
Majk
30 июля, 2010 at 21:33
Someone’s been watching the trailer for the new Karate Kid. :)
java
31 июля, 2010 at 07:54
Naah, Karate Kid isn’t my favorite film. I prefer Shaolin Soccer. They combined football with Kung-Fu. :D
Johnny Karp
1 августа, 2010 at 13:12
@Chris @ Chester
Thanks mate. I’m a journalist.
@Lye
Thanks Lye, I hope you’ll be proven right about the promotion. I just got back home, I went to Shanghai.
@Java & Majk
No Kung-Fu unfortunately…